From the AP via WTOP: Court Stops Va. Execution:
The Supreme Court on Wednesday halted Virginia’s planned execution of a man who murdered a co-worker.
Virginia had prepared to execute Christopher Scott Emmett, 36, even as several other states stopped executions after the high court agreed to review claims that the method of death is unconstitutionally cruel.
Emmett had been scheduled to be put to death Wednesday night at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va., for the 2001 bludgeoning murder of a co-worker, John Fenton Langley.
The stay granted by the court will last until a Richmond, Va.-based federal appeals court takes another look at the case. The justices did not comment further on their order.
“unconstitutionally cruel” – HA!
It is not cruel. It just ends the life of someone who is whole heartedly believed to have committed an act so evil that they gave up their right to breathe when they committed the act.
Heck, if lethal injection (LI) is cruel, then slide the gurney to the side, pull back the curtain, and sit him in the chair that still exists. It *IS* directly behind the gurney where they put folks to sleep.
Oh, and if LI is so cruel, then how come PETA has not been all over it???